So after hoping I'd get an earring and not getting one, I made one. Then... I look at the new barter item. Hmm... maybe should've finished ALL the additional content before making it?

But seriously three shards for one item? Is it really unreasonable to whine about that?

I ran out of shards due to gearing up both my tank and my RK with essences, plus the aforementioned earring. So I went out and gathered until I had three shards. It took over three hours. Full time, active gathering, not standing in one spot waiting for a repop.

I really don't hate harvest/gather activity in games, but when you know you need three to make one item, it feels like you're sinking into quicksand. Is it fun for anyone? Not that crafting is BIS for anything, but going forward, it just seems like it's going to be beyond useless unless it's changed later. Who's going to grind for shards (via the crafting quests or via harvesting overland) so they can craft for gear when they are just leveling through?

This is way beyond "suspension of disbelief" why is it like this? What problem does it solve to have crossbows so limited? It's not even thornholt logs, it's the boards. What purpose does it serve?

For that matter, are there any plain bows you can make? I didn't see those recipes offered yet. Maybe I missed it.

]]>Craftinggripplyhttps://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?674937-How-come-it-takes-50-boards-to-make-one-Crossbow-in-Ironfoldhttps://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?674847-What-s-new-Dwarrowmarks-Dwarf-Iron-Fragments-and-Gulmarks&goto=newpost
Sun, 18 Aug 2019 23:47:32 GMTThese three items, Dwarrowmarks, Dwarf Iron Fragments OR Gulmarks seem to be the ticket to gearing an alt later through Ironfold and the Vales. ...

These three items, Dwarrowmarks, Dwarf Iron Fragments OR Gulmarks seem to be the ticket to gearing an alt later through Ironfold and the Vales. I'm still trying to get my bearings after returning.

When I took a break, the crafting was Anorien. Most non-consumables of high quality needed Emerald Shard, or two Emerald Shards.

At Ironfold, an item of armor, for instance may need 3 Dwarrowgleam Shards, PLUS two each Dwarrowmarks and Dwarf Iron Fragments. There are also Rime items, but I'm skipping over those because a solo/pug player wouldn't get them without buying them. Also, once those raids aren't run much anymore, you're down to what the solo game gives you.

So I'm thinking ahead, pretend the level cap is now 150, and the Vales is a leveling area, frequented by alts.

It seems simpler to use Gulmarks to gear up the alt, rather than crafting.

I like that there are multiple ways to get to a similar gear set, but I wanted to point out that it's strange there are three items you need to make one solo armor piece, or use the Embers system, or use Gulmarks. And all three methods require instances.

Note: I was tempted to add to that thread, but worried about "necroing" old threads. Not sure if that would be ok of if I should start a new one.

So what's new is that the instances must be run.

Based on the way Dwarf Iron Fragments are valued at around 5-10g on AH, Dwarrowmarks seem absent, but it could be a fluke, and Dwarrowgleam Shards are valued over 200g... the community seems to value the Essences function of Dwarrowgleam Shards more than the crafted gear.

I'm not criticizing, but I wanted to comment on these things because I may be missing an insight somewhere.